Gold for Wesley So at Universiade, the Olympic Games for Students

Wesley So clinched the gold medal at the 27th Universiade, also known as the World University Games or Olympics for students. The 19-year-old grandmaster from the Philippines, who studies at Webster University as part of Susan Polgar's Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE), beat GM Zaven Andriasian of Armenia in a playoff. The event is still under way in Kazan, Russia but the chess part is over.

You might have never heard of it, but it's quite a big and prestigious event held every two years: the Universiade. It is, according to Wikipedia,

an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a combination of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is often referred to in English as the World University Games or World Student Games; however, this latter term can also refer to competitions for sub-University grades students, as well.

Universiades have been organized since 1923 and like the Olympic Games, there is both a Summer Universiade and a Winter Universiade.

The 27th edition of the Summer Universiade is taking place July 6th-17th in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan. (In the same city the Candidates Matches were held in 2011, won by Boris Gelfand.) There are 27 disciplines: athletics, basketball, fencing, football, artistic gymnastics, judo, swimming, diving, water polo, table tennis, tennis volleyball, boxing, shooting, synchronous swimming, rowing, canoe sprint, sambo, wrestling, belt wrestling, weightlifting, rugby 7, field hockey, badminton, beach volleyball and... chess! The royal game debuted at the previous Summer Universiade, in 2011 in Shenzhen, China.

The chess was played at the Kazan Equestrian Complex, one of the largest equestrian complexes in Europe

At the time of writing the event is coming to its end, and the athletes have finished their competitions for most of the sports, including chess. It was a 9-round Swiss tournament for both men and women, who played in separate groups, from July 9th-15th. Each country could send a maximum of eight competitors to Kazan, and all of them had to be studying at a university, of course. There was also an age limit: the athletes needed to be between 17 and 28 years old.

However, because So and Andriasian had exactly the same values for all tiebreaks that were applied, the question was: who would get gold and who silver? The arbiters decided on a playoff consisting of just one Armageddon game. Andriasian won the toss and chose the white pieces, and So got Black with less time on the clock and draw odds. This very tense game ended in favour of the Webster freshman:

In the women's section all three medals went to China. The only grandmaster in the field, Zhao Xue, clinched the gold medal after finishing clear first with 7.5/9. Ju Wenjun won silver and Tan Zhongyi bronze; these two players finished on 7/9.

Universiade 2013 Women | Final standings (top 30)

Rk.

Title

Name

Fed

Rtg

Pts.

TB1

TB2

TB3

Rp

1

GM

Zhao Xue

CHN

2553

7,5

0

48

43,5

2647

2

WGM

Ju Wenjun

CHN

2531

7

0

47

42,5

2579

3

WGM

Tan Zhongyi

CHN

2478

7

0

46,5

41,5

2534

4

IM

Savina Anastasia

RUS

2368

6,5

0

50

44,5

2477

5

IM

Bodnaruk Anastasia

RUS

2440

6,5

0

49,5

44,5

2523

6

WGM

Batchimeg Tuvshintugs

MGL

2351

6,5

0

48

43,5

2482

7

WGM

Kashlinskaya Alina

RUS

2334

6,5

0

45,5

40,5

2464

8

IM

Shen Yang

CHN

2405

6

0

47

42

2409

9

IM

Guramishvili Sopiko

GEO

2421

6

0

45

40,5

2436

10

WGM

Arabidze Meri

GEO

2320

6

0

44

39,5

2377

11

WIM

Kulon Klaudia

POL

2258

6

0

42,5

38

2309

12

WIM

Umudova Nargiz

AZE

2253

6

0

39,5

35,5

2141

13

WGM

Rogule Laura

LAT

2329

5,5

0

48

43

2360

14

WGM

Bulmaga Irina

ROU

2403

5,5

0

47

42,5

2414

15

WGM

Stojanovic Andjelija

SRB

2302

5,5

0

44

40

2291

16

WGM

Mammadyarova Turkan

AZE

2267

5,5

0

42,5

38,5

2314

17

WIM

Davletbayeva Madina

KAZ

2260

5,5

0

42

37,5

2245

18

WIM

Kazimova Narmin

AZE

2208

5,5

0

41

38

2198

19

WIM

Vo Thi Kim Phung

VIE

2199

5,5

0

41

36,5

2213

20

WIM

Chirivi C Jenny Astrid

COL

2205

5,5

0

39,5

36

2108

21

WIM

Mader Manuela

GER

2212

5,5

0

39,5

35,5

2130

22

WIM

Garcia Morales Ivette Ale

MEX

2072

5,5

0

38,5

35,5

2167

23

WGM

Soloviova Lisa

UKR

2296

5,5

0

38

34,5

2178

24

WGM

Girya Olga

RUS

2437

5

0

47

42,5

2351

25

IM

Munguntuul Batkhuyag

MGL

2452

5

0

46

41

2320

26

WGM

Kalinina Olga

UKR

2292

5

0

41,5

37

2273

27

WGM

Kulovana Eva

CZE

2272

5

0

41

37

2173

28

WFM

Hallaeva Bahar

TKM

2150

5

0

40,5

36,5

2135

29

WGM

Przezdziecka Marta

POL

2297

5

0

38

34,5

2166

30

WIM

Dudas Eszter

HUN

2266

5

0

37

33,5

1988

The medal winners in the men's section: Zaven Andriasian, Wesley So and Li Chao